Shaukat Aziz, who is set to take over as Pakistan's prime minister next week, is expected to visit India late October or early November, the Indo-Asian News Service quoted officials as saying Thursday.

Aziz, who won the by-elections to the National Assembly Wednesday from two constituencies paving the way for him to take over as prime minister from Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, will be visiting India as part of a South Asia tour.

The main purpose of his visit is to invite Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and leaders of the other countries for the summit meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation in Dhaka in January 2005.

Pakistan is the current chairman of the seven-nation regional grouping that clubs Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives, besides India and Pakistan.

Aziz and Singh are expected to review the progress of the peace process between the two nations.

After coming close to war over Kashmir in 2002, the two neighbors have slowly built ties. Relations between India and Pakistan have been improving since last year.

(Xinhua News Agency August 20, 2004)